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ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The bodies of three Chinese engineers murdered in Hub on Wednesday were flown to China aboard a Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft on Friday. Minister of State Shahzad Waseem also left here with the bodies. He would attend the last rites of the Chinese. The C-130 will fly to Anhui, the home province of the engineers.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Chinese diplomats were present at the Chaklala air base. At a solemn ceremony before the plane took off, Mr Sherpao and Mr Waseem laid wreaths on the coffins on behalf of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, respectively.
Talking to journalists on the occasion, the interior minister reiterated Pakistan’s strong denunciation of the killing of the Chinese nationals who had been rendering valuable services at a cement factory.
He said the killing had grieved the president, prime minister, government of Pakistan and the entire nation. “We fully share the sorrow of the Chinese government and people.”
He said two teams were investigating the terrorist attack in which the engineers were killed and the culprits would be brought to justice. Some 47 suspects had been detained in this regard, he added.
The minister said that the longstanding friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and China would not be affected by the incident and it would continue to flourish.
BODIES ARRIVE FROM KARACHI: Earlier, the bodies were flown to Islamabad from the PAF Faisal Base in Karachi.
Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Chunxiang, Consul-General Sun Chunye, the commander of the PAF Base and the city police chief were present at the base.
Mr Chunxiang said on the occasion that China and Pakistan enjoyed deep friendly ties and any attempt to mar these would not succeed.
He said the killings would not affect the relations between the two countries.
The provincial home minister said that the murders had been committed by those trying to spoil these ties. However, he added, such designs would be foiled as these relations were deep rooted.
He said the Sindh home department was in touch with the Balochistan government for the arrest of assassins who would soon be apprehended.
Consul-General Zhi called the incident part of a conspiracy to mar relations between the two countries. He said these ties spanned over years and China gave high importance to it.
“Our morale is high and hopefully the government will soon bring the killers to net,” he observed.—APP/PPI
